Event Timeslots (1)
Thursday
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Weird beliefs are beliefs that we take to be far-fetched or even absurd. A prime example is conspiratorial thinking, which is widespread these days and which poses a danger to public debate in democracies. On the one hand it is sometimes claimed that belief in conspiracy theories is immune to counter evidence, such that believers in conspiracy theories are not open to any arguments against what they believe. On the other hand, people that have weird beliefs are often judged as being irrational to the effect that we don't take them serious and exclude them from public debates. When we encounter someone who holds beliefs which we take to be weird, we tend to explain this with their lack of rationality, i.e. their epistemic irresponsibility or incapability concerning the way they acquired their beliefs, a lack of sensitivity to counter evidence, or with motivated reasoning.
In this seminar we will discuss what weird beliefs are: Is there a common feature to conspiracy theories or do we have to evaluate them individually one by one? In which other contexts do we find weird beliefs? Can we really account for weird belief with a lack of rationality, or can a fully rational person fall prey to weird beliefs as well? If so, how else can we explain weird beliefs? And how can we avoid to believe weird things ourselves?